Rumor Has It
by Blood Rose Knight
Summary: Everyone has a story for how Qrow and Winter met. Too bad they aren't the right stories.


Rumor Has It

No one was surprised when Qrow and Winter eventually announced their engagement. They were even less surprised when it was announced the wedding would be only a short month after the announcement. Neither Winter or Qrow wanted a huge ceremony. Winter because she had grown up with all the lavishes and had grown tired of them and Qrow… well, Qrow had just never liked them.

However, there was still one question that no one had been able to get an answer about from the Bride or the Groom. They had been told the date of the wedding, they had been told how Qrow proposed to Winter (which was in the middle of a Grimm fight when they thought they might perish followed by a passionate kiss in the middle of the battlefield), and they had even been told about when the couple had finally decided to get together. But there was one question no one had ever gotten a straight answer about.

No one had any idea how the two actually met.

"I heard from some of Winter's former teammates," Blake said from where she sat around a roundtable with the rest of Team Ruby. She wasn't in the wedding party like the rest of them, but she was allowed to stay with them anyway because it would have felt wrong to leave her out even if she had no relation to the bride and groom. "That it went something like this."

…

Winter was a senior at Atlas Academy. She knew exactly what she planned to do after graduation and she knew what kind of person she wanted to be. However, no amount of training over her last four years at the Huntsmen Academy could prepare her for the whirlwind that was Qrow Branwen.

"Class," Professor Periwinkle announced and Winter followed her with an intense gaze. "Due to the… unfortunate incident of last week's dust mining field trip Dr. Tawny has to be on bed rest from combat training for the next few weeks."

There was a collective groan let out by the room and Professor Periwinkle glared with such force that the rest of the class was quick to pipe down.

"Due to this unforeseen issue, General Ironwood has made arrangements for a substitute teacher all the way from Vale to tutor you in the meantime. So please give Qrow Branwen your attention. I hope you all treat him with the same respect you would any of the other teachers here."

"This is great," Ivory, one of Winter's teammates cooed to their leader as she leaned back in her seat; blonde hair cascading in a braid over her chair while a red- fox's tail wiggled excitedly. "That old geezer was so boring. If I wanted to listen to his war stories I would actually read the military reports."

"That is no way to speak about your superior and you know it," Winter lectured her teammate and friend. Ivory only shrugged in response. There was no more time for debate before the door opened.

Winter knew at that moment she was about to face the challenge of a lifetime. The man entered under the name Qrow Branwen was easily the most handsome man she had ever seen. He was tall and lean with slicked-back hair; it was enough to make Winter go weak in the knees.

Qrow looked up at that moment and met Winter's gaze. He smirked and sent a wink her way. She could feel her heart pound in her chest and—

"That is so not how they met," Weiss cut off Blake as she retold the possible story.

"Yeah, Blake," Yang agree with an eyebrow cocked. "You sure you weren't reading that from one of your smut books?"

Blake only shrugged in response. "Its what Ivory was telling the rest of the team when they were asking her. Apparently, they didn't have class at the same time. It isn't like you guys had better insight."

"I beg to differ," Weiss said as she straightened up. The game long since is forgotten. "Let me tell you how Klein told me it happened."

…

Winter hated having to come home for parties. Though, she supposed it was to be expected. She had yet to announce her claim to the Schnee Dust Company so she was expected to be at these parties until such an announcement was made. She would have done it when she first applied to Atlas Academy but Weiss was far too young, being only twelve, to accept the responsibility.

Now Weiss was sixteen but she was busy prepping for an upcoming recital to be at a party that really only Winter's presence was required for. The Eldest Schnee sighed to herself as she stayed close to her father's side, even though she had long since gained her independence from him, she still found it best to humor his whims when he was in his better moods.

"General Ironwood," Jacque crowed when he saw the General approaching with a less than presentable man appears in tow. "It's good to see you here."

"It's good to be here," James said with a smile through to Winter's trained eye it was easy to see the formalities made him uncomfortable. "Winter, I'm glad the vacation from school seems to be treating you well."

"Yes, it's been good to be home with my family. Weiss has grown up so much, I'm sure she will make a fine huntress when she reaches adulthood," Winter agreed to keep her voice calm and even. She was suddenly aware of how itchy her dress felt against her skin. The pale blue fabric clinging tight to her body with silver thread woven throughout to give it a hint of shine.

"Forgive me, I should probably introduce my guest," James said suddenly aware of the shadow looming over his shoulder. "This is Qrow Branwen. He's a teacher at Signal Academy and visiting at the request from Beacon Academy's headmaster."

"It's a please to meet you," Winter greeted, open-minded about the situation as she extended her hand to him. He took it, pulling her a little closer. He smelled like a distillery, and Winter found her nose crinkling up in disgust.

"Sure, thing hot stuff," Qrow groaned as he let go of her hand Winter could begin to feel her stomach roll as—

"Boring," Ruby interrupted before taking a sip of the drink at her side.

"No one said the story had to be interesting," Weiss pouted as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Except it isn't true," Yang added with a chuckle. "No way your sister didn't throw a drink in his face or slap him."

"Winter would never do something like that," Weiss started to defend before backtracking. "At least not in front of the General and Father."

"Here's how Dad said it happened," Yang said with a smirk as Ruby leaned in to help tell the story.

…

Qrow sat at the bar nursing his jack on the rocks. It's was colder then Raven's heart outside and Qrow didn't have enough booze in him yet to make him feel warm. Just enough to pare his judgment though. Tai had already tried to cut Qrow off after his third drink but given up when Qrow could still walk straight and Tai himself was crashing into bar stools. So instead his friend has slinked over to a booth to drink some water eat some food while Qrow stayed at the bar.

The sound of giggling was enough to pull Qrow's attention away from his drink and over to where some Atlas girls were pushing one of their friends in his direction. She was a pretty little thing with white hair and wearing a matching white leather dress. However, she seemed way too young to want his attention; at most, she was about to graduate from the academy.

She looked down at her feet when she finally reached him, a blush stained her face and all the way down her chest. Qrow couldn't help but chuckle a little at that, maybe he was a little drunk.

"Hey hot stuff, did it hurt?" She asked but the words came out as more of a squeak.

"Did what hurt?" Qrow asked playing along with her flirting. He knew the punchline but he wanted to see if she could get the rest of it out.

"When you fell from heaven," she stated but the words came out flat and choked. She was actually shaking now, enough that her hair quivered as it fell down her back.

"No," Qrow replied with a smirk—pushing his bangs back. "But I did scrape my knee crawling up from hell."

There was a moment of silence and Qrow though for a second that he might have finally broken the girl and made her skitter back over to her friends. But instead, she busted up laughing. Her smile was bright enough that even Qrow could feel himself warming up. Either that or the Atleasian Vodka he had earlier was finally getting to him.

He watched as she took a seat next to him with a smile. "I'll have a Whisky Sour please," Winter ordered and Qrow could feel her hand on his leg. Hot as it crept up and—

"No way my sister would ever be that crude," Weiss huffed again.

"I agree," Blake said with her ears flattening. "She is not that forward with a guy she just met."

"Uncle Qrow says people change with a few drinks in them," Ruby said with shrug and the four of them began bickering about which story had more credibility and which was most likely to happened, though they still managed to keep their voices down.

Qrow and Winter watched from the shadows of a hallway snickering the whole time. While each story had happened to some degree of exaggeration or had details left out, none of them had actually been how the bride and groom met.

Qrow kissed to top of Winter's head as they both let out their remaining chuckles.

"How did we meet anyway?" Winter asked as she looked up at Qrow with wide doe eyes. "It's been so long I almost forgot."

"You team had decided to go to one of the coastal cities in Vale for the summer holiday the same day I was there with the kids and their dad. They were getting ice cream and I was watching their stuff. You accidentally hit a beach volleyball in my face and managed to close the umbrella on top of me too. I got so mad I deflated the volleyball."

"Oh yeah," Winter agreed as she recalled the memory with increasing clarity. "You stabbed it was a paring knife and I said that it was personal property and overdramatic. We were arguing until a lifeguard broke up the fight. I went back to my team and you with your family. Didn't think we would ever see each other again until you showed up at my father's party."

"Was that when we met again, or the first night we slept together after the bar?" She slapped him playfully on the shoulder.

"That was after and only happened because I was drunk. I about died when I saw you at the school a few days later." Qrow laughed in response.

"I suppose, but I like having the truth to ourselves."

"I do too," Winter agreed before following her groom back to bed for the night, leaving team RWBY to bicker out the meetings to their heart's content. Winter and Qrow knew their story and that was all that mattered. No one else needed to know the details. Not brother's in law, not former teammates, and especially not the team filled with nieces and sisters.

No, it would be their dirty little secret and they could keep their rumors because that air of mystery was just how Qrow and Winter wanted it to be.

* * *

BRK: Day 2 and I had way too much fun with this prompt. Also, have some bickering I had with my boyfriend because it gives this paring fun ideas for prompts like this.

BF: How's Qrowin Week going?  
Me: Good  
BF: Hard to believe this ship came from a 14 minutes or less scene together  
Me:... You aren't wrong.


End file.
